With the increased availability, connectivity, and computing power of mobile devices, these devices have become the primary productivity tool of a mobile workforce. At the foundation of any productivity application on a mobile device is the ability to access, modify, and transmit information. Even with advances in connectivity, the ability to work disconnected (e.g., offline) remains a pertinent factor in maximizing the usefulness of mobile applications.
Enabling plural users to work offline with their mobile devices (e.g., sales representatives, field service workers, deliver personnel, etc.) may be accomplished using data synchronization with a master data repository to which the mobile devices of the plural users are intermittently connected. Each user may make updates to data locally on their mobile device while not connected to the master data repository (e.g., while working offline in the field), and then synchronize the changes to the master data repository at a later time when the mobile device is connected to the master data repository (e.g., at the end of the day). A conflict may occur, however, when two users working offline and independently of each other make changes to the same data record in the database, resulting in a collision when the varying changes are synchronized.